And the waiting continues

So the home inspection is done (well worth the money, believe me) and the lawyers finally duked it out. And now all the paperwork is at the banks. This is where the annoying wait begins. 

It seems to me that our success on this bid will depend on one person whose desk this lands on. On whether it's the beginning of the day or the end of the day. On whether they're in a good mood or a bad mood. On whether it's Monday or Friday. On... well, you get the idea. 

But I feel we made a fair bid for the condition of the property (thanks to the home inspection revealing some issues we weren't aware of). So I think we've got a great chance of this succeeding. Now the question is just when.

In the meantime, prepping my home for sale and not looking forward to the market that awaits me.

Short sales, foreclosures, REOs, oh my!

House hunting used to be fun. Find that perfect house in that perfect location. You'd think with the amount of houses out there, the perfect one would be easy to find.

Find yes. Purchase... not so easy.

We found the perfect house for us. Good size, good location and good price. Problem is that it's a short sale. What does that mean? Well, over the past couple of weeks, I learned everything I could about short sales. 

The quick answer is that the homeowner can't afford to keep the house and the bank doesn't want to foreclose and risk losing a lot of money. So what happens is that the bank (or banks) agree to take less than is left on the loan in order to get it off the books.

Sounds good, right? It can be. 

I looked up the success rate of short sale bids and was distressed to find out that only about 15-20% off all bids make it to closing.

However, I think it's because there's a lot of time involved. First a bid needs to be made with about a 1% earnest money down payment. Then there's a 5-10 home inspection period. Then there is the attorney review (another two weeks). Then there is the mortgage approval stage (usually about 30 days allotted there). And then there's the wait. The wait is for the approval from the bank(s). This can take a long time. I've heard stories that people can wait up to six months for a response. And even then, it may not be the response you are looking for. The bank could approve, deny or counter your offer. 

Over the next several days, or weeks, I'll be updating the process we're going through. While I know that the wait will stink, I think it's worth it if it's for a house you want.